Charles Baudelaire Essay

1523 words - 7 pages

Charles Baudelaire, a Poet of Shock

Charles Baudelaire’s poems within Le Fleurs du Mal were all essentially invested in the experience of shock. The notion of shock was a main feeling and expression that was found in modernist literature. The notion of shock was shown through Charles Baudelaire’s poem through his texts focus on the rapid pace of modern life as well as reminiscing of prior occurrences in history. The cultural progression of Modernism produced many different types of expressions from most of society ranging from the notion of alienation, disruption as well as shock. Baudelaire mainly displayed the notion of modernism within his text by taking notice of the flaring ...view middle of the document...

According to Sigmund Freud, the “human protective shield, which has its own energy, guards the nervous system against 'the excessive energies of the outside world'". Freud here is referring, “the excessive energies of the outside world” as what is causing shock within society. This is suggesting that the external world is constantly threatening to shock us. The safeguard of an individual’s body is its consciousness, which protects the subconscious from experiencing shock. As our consciousness allow us to depict the real world with a modern perspective.
Baudelaire in his poems showed society of the world of alcohol, drugs, sex which in a sense pushed at the boundaries of public taste, at that time. Baudelaire with referring to modern society was also describing personal experiences of his own life. Baudelaire’s expression of modern city, society and his obsessions of modern life really shaped is poetry. With his expression and depiction of modern society he instilled shock within his readers as his writings rejected the traditional perspective of life. During his time of writing, old patterns of living were dying and new ones were taking their place. Individuals within society were not accustomed to modern living or writing as they were part of the aristocratic and feudal social order of Paris. Baudelaire represented the new industrialized and bourgeois order that transformed society to be more modern.
“To the Reader” by Baudelaire, the first poem within his collection really stands out as it displays many shocking images that society was not accustomed to. At the same time he was attempting to make a connection to his readers as seen by the title. Baudelaire refers to the devil, as he is to blame for the evil temptations and behavior within the world.
“It is the Devil who holds the threads that move us! It is in hateful objects that we and peace Each day, one step further towards Hell Without horror, through the stinking shadows.” (p.1)

Charles Baudelaire shock is shown through his dark perspective of the world that to him is filled with hypocrites, death, and sin. Baudelaire is indirectly saying that society lacks freedom as the devil is in control of the world. Baudelaire also mentions that the boredom in our lives leads to many of our evil actions and in a sense is considered a modern vice.

Charles Baudelaire here states the evil lurking inside the average individual within society is partly caused by boredom. Baudelaire is adamant in pushing the point that most individuals are hypocrites as most individuals are capable of committing evil actions. He seems to be very critical of human existence, ironically in the final line of the poem Baudelaire admits to be a hypocrite as well. He is a hypocrite in the sense...

Other Papers Like Charles Baudelaire

2721 words - 11 pages
romantics; they were suffered from self-indulgence and self-absorption. Symbolism demands individual to dissociate from society and that he should find truth and beauty in his own self. This self-indulgence results in a diseased individualism which is in fact the symbol of individual as well as social decadence. Therefore, this diseased individualism is responsible for the ‘decadence’ of Edgar Allan Poe, Oscar Wilde and Charles Baudelaire who are

2804 words - 12 pages
works such as "The Raven," which has been called the best-known poem in the Western Hemisphere, he has assumed a place among the popular imagination alongside William Shakespeare, Mark Twain, and Thomas Malory, author of the most famous Arthurian romance, Le Morte D'Arthur. Responses to him have been more ambivalent in literary circles, however. French writers, particularly Charles Baudelaire, have hailed Poe as a superior genius, and his British

2141 words - 9 pages
Chancellor Linda Katehi to resign, due to the depressing failure of leadership. Chancellor Katehi states that the video is “sad and really very inappropriate” but she has no plans to resign. “I do not think that I have violated the policies of the institution,” she said. Charles J. Kelly, a Baltimore Police Department lieutenant, said the spray is a “compliance tool.” “When you start picking up human bodies, you risk hurting them,” he said

2348 words - 10 pages
shouted racial insults before beating and stabbing Ruben Charles Vaughan III 7 times. Vaughan and his family wanted to file hate crime charges against two defendants, and they were supported by Africa American and Latino activists. Even Judge Pamela L. Iles of the Municipal Court in Laguna Niguel tried to persuade prosecutors into filing hate crime charges against the defendants, but the prosecutors decided that there wasn’t enough evidence to

2140 words - 9 pages
Rational Emotional Behavior Therapy Case Study of Sarah:
A Conceptualization and Treatment Plan
Rational emotive behavior therapy, REBT, was developed by Albert Ellis and holds the central belief that the events in our lives do not cause our disturbances but that they are instead caused by our view of the events (Murdock, 2009). Murdock (2009) states that “people are seen as responsible for their behavior” (p. 279) but, because they are

1636 words - 7 pages
Have you ever thought about having exciting and incredibly cheap vacations? Albania might be the right choice. According to My Travel Guide, Albania is ranked the fourth among ten places worth visiting in Eastern Europe (“Top 10 Eastern European Destinations”). One can encounter three kinds of vacations in this Mediterranean country: winter, summer, and cultural.
The ideal places to spend your winter vacations are the Albanian Alps. They are

1748 words - 7 pages
In this short story, there are frequent significant subject and ideas that make the story, "A Heart of Darkness," by Joseph Conrad, and haunting novel. The main theme is absolute white power over the natives. The theme validates the corruption, and the dependence caused by the white people as they took over the Congo. White men were giving all the power; they had no self-control, and in the end they did not use wisely. The white men became

2287 words - 10 pages
Essentially, everyone is in some state of vulnerability. However, some of us are more susceptible to harm due to our vulnerabilities. The susceptible are the individuals with the greatest risk. These individuals risk the loss of their autonomy, and maybe even their lives. Vulnerable populations can be found in every subset of society. However, as previously mentioned, there are some vulnerable populations that are at an even greater risk than

1171 words - 5 pages
The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy
As the human race makes life-changing discoveries, it is made apparent that there is always more to learn as the universe, instead of becoming familiar, is becoming absurd. The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, written by Douglas Adams, as well as the 2005 film adaption, portrays absurdity to be an all-encompassing system in the universe. Through the introduction and attempt to understand lack of reason, the

1252 words - 6 pages
‘It’s not the employer who pays the wages. Employers only handle the money. It is the customer who pays the wages’ (Henry Ford, cited in Johnson and Weinstein 2004, p. 2). When the Ford Motor Company announced that it would more than double the wages of its workers in January 1914 to a ‘five-dollar day’ minimum, was this a contradiction to Henry Ford’s statement? If customers are actually the ultimate payers of wages, then more than

1396 words - 6 pages
A Historical Analysis of the Economical Breakthroughs of the Industrial Revolution
During the Industrial Revolution, many elements of society experienced huge breakthroughs that would change the way they functioned forever. Economics were definitely one of them. With many new inventions and many factories appearing, many, many, more resources were being created than ever before. Also, all of the revenue from these resources was being given to

Related Essays

1285 words - 6 pages
, playwrights, of course the mentioned teaching, a linguistic and translator, media involvement such as column journalism, radio, television and interviews. Furthermore, he became an image internationally among similar controversial state of mind. Burgess earned provenance for, yet not limited too; receiving the Charles Baudelaire Prize, the Prix du Meilleur Livre Etranger, his book Earthly Powers became internationally published. He also wrote the

1936 words - 8 pages
teaching at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts in Paris; instead, after receiving a few months' teaching from Charles de Steuben, he attended the independent private academies run by Pere Suisse and Pere Lapin and also received advice from Nicolas-Auguste Hesse. At the same time, he copied works by the Old Masters at the Louvre.Like Rembrandt and van Gogh, Courbet painted a large number of self-portraits, especially in the 1840s. These quite often show the

2053 words - 9 pages
Charles Baudelaire, Arthur Rimbaud, Stephene Mallarme, and Eliot's favourite, Jules Laforgue.From 1911 he studied at the Sorbonne, and in Oxford, in 1914 he established residence in London and in 1927 became a British citizen.After working as a teacher and a bank clerk he began a publishing career; he was assistant editor of the Egoist (1917-19) and edited his own quarterly, the Criterion (1922-39).In 1925 he was employed by the publishing house

1834 words - 8 pages
. Writer and philosopher Breton propelled this movement with his publication of The Manifesto of Surrealism, as a way of fighting against the way art was understood at the time.
The roots of surrealism can be traced back to Charles Baudelaire, Arthur Rimbaud, and Isidore Ducasse, also known as Comte de Lautréamont. Surrealists also found inspiration in the poetic methods, such as calligrammatic poetry, used by Stéphane Mallarmé and Guillaume